1. Technical Field
This invention relates to cordless telephone sets and, more particularly, to a cordless telephone set usable in evaluating performance levels of operating parameters of such set in diverse geographical locations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cordless telephone sets have now become as commonplace as corded telephone sets in many homes. Indeed, recent sales figures reflect that more cordless telephone sets than corded telephone sets are presently being sold for home use. Customers having experienced cordless telephone sets in the home environment now desire the mobility and freedom provided by these sets in the business environment. These same customers, however, have stricter needs for the business environment. Typically, they require that the business cordless telephone sets have greater range and higher voice quality to serve their business applications. Before purchasing such a set, therefore, business customers feel the need to be reassured that the cordless telephone set being purchased meets 1) the range and 2) the voice quality that they have become accustomed to with comparable corded telephone sets in the business environment.
Thus, to fulfill the need for a "try it before you buy it" mentality, an account executive typically visits a potential business customer's site location with a "black box" cordless telephone set. This set is then operated at different locations around the site for insuring that both the operating range and voice quality of a subsequently provided cordless telephone set will be satisfactory for the customer's application. Because the "black box" cordless telephone set is not the actual cordless telephone set that the customer receives, the operating range and voice quality parameters may differ, or may be perceived by the customer to differ, from those obtained from the subsequently provided cordless telephone set. Such a change in performance or its perception may easily lead to customer dissatisfaction with the cordless telephone set.
Cordless telephone sets in a business environment are often installed in a private branch exchange (PBX) communication system where a number of signal lines are provided between a group of local users and a host switch within the PBX communication system. Thus a cordless telephone set having access to the switch is typically connected by signal lines, such as wire or optical fiber, to the switch for accessing other local users and also for accessing a remote communications exchange. One of the continuing problems experienced by business customers is being able to accurately determine a source of operating difficulty within a PBX communication system which has a switch and many different components, i.e, corded telephone sets, facsimile machines, answering machines, etc., respectively connected through local loops to this switch. Unfortunately, when some type of operating difficulty is encountered in a communication system and a cordless telephone set is a part of this system, more often than not, the cordless telephone set is believed to be the source of the operating difficulty. Often the source of operating difficulty, however, is found in another part of the communications system. Thus, if a source of operating difficulty is not easily and accurately determined, expensive and unnecessary repair costs may be incurred by the customer.
It is therefore desirable to be able to demonstrate to a potential business customer expected performance levels for parameters such as operating range and voice quality for a cordless telephone set to be acquired by the customer for use at a site location. It is also desirable to enable the customer to subsequently check these parameters for determining if the cordless telephone set is operating at its previously determined performance levels thereby avoiding unnecessary repair calls for the cordless telephone set in the communication system.